


the Fight We Pick

by allodo



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: Implied Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 01:02:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19140451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allodo/pseuds/allodo
Summary: Ulana is the centered character. She witnessed something and did her best.





	the Fight We Pick

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [The fight we pick](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19139641) by [allodo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allodo/pseuds/allodo). 



> In this story, Ulana is the centered character. As a female PhD student, obviously not in Nuclear physics, I like the character very much. I know that in reality, she does not exist, but I still want to write about her. There may be some mistakes about what the researchers do in Nuclear physics. Also, English is not my first language, but I will try my best.

Byelorusian Institute for Nuclear Energy

Khomyuk opened the door and the head of the Institute sat behind the wooden square table, next to another official. It was a gray-haired middle-aged man.

The head of the Institute nodded, "Khomyuk, please sit." He observed Khomyuk's facial expression, "I can see that you have a bad week."

"Not only this week." She knew that she was serious, she looks rigorous, and was very tired. "Because of personal issues."

The gray-haired middle-aged man turned his head and stared at her, as if she was an enemy. Maybe she was.

"My older brother has passed away."

The middle-aged man turned his eyes away.

The head of the Institute nodded. "I understand. If you want time to adjust and recharge, I can arrange a leave for you."

"No, there is no need for that." Khomyuk said, "He was very sick before, so it is inevitable. We are ready for the loss, but we just do not have time to say goodbye." She recalled that during the last time she met Valery, when they started to talk about a relaxed topic, Valery mentioned that he envied her thick hair. She remembered their conversation, and her eyes began to feel the heat and humidity. She raised her head and the tears did not fall down.

She walked very quickly when she left the office, not even aware of that.

A new researcher who was just employed by the institute noticed her red eyes and confused. She faintly heard a voice of dissatisfaction and ignorance drifted away. Some one near her said: "This is nothing originally. All of sudden, everyone seems to have lost their best friends."

The anger swept her brain like a tornado, and she quickly returned to her office.

She needs more things to do. She has work to do. She didn't know how she manage it, but she did start working. She needs to go on.

On her way home, she walked into a store and bought a series of tapes with natural noise and classical music burned on it. She just wants to buy something and listen to something. She needs to listen to music to rest.

-

She still remembered Valery, Boris. They worked together at Chernobyl. They have changed a lot. What remains unchanged was that she was always the youngest of them. She liked to challenge Valery, because their arguments always touched the essence of the truth and achieved the goals. She liked Boris because she knew that Boris was a good friend.

One month later, she received the notice sent by Boris. They met in a forest.

Seeing Boris again made Khomyuk happy, but Khomyuk was surprised at the state of Boris. She had expected that he would be very depressed, but it was not the extent of this uncovered grief and broken.

He looked very painful and sorrow overwhelmed him, but he still tried to stay firm. He looked at Khomyuk's eyes. 

"He tried it once before, I know he would try it a second time. If he failed again, he would try it for the third time," Boris said hoarsely.

They both knew who "he" represented.

Boris tried to squeeze a smile. "You scientists are stubborn as hell."

Khomyuk didn't want to see him like this, but she knew that she was also mechanically pulling her lips.

"I can't stop him." Boris's eyes were a little red.

"Boris," Khomyuk wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know why, she couldn't say anything. Boris looked at her sadly and said softly, "I miss him." Khomyuk has never seen him as devastated as this, like a big boy has lost his little brother. She stepped forward and hugged Boris, mourning the important friend they lost.

Boris's hand rested on her back with almost no strength. It took her a long time to realize that Boris was shaking. But she did not hear him making any noise.

She suddenly felt the wetness of her left shoulder, looked up in surprise, and saw Boris's tears. At this moment, Khomyuk suddenly realized that she seemed to have ignored something obvious from her two friends. She is very slow at some non-science part, and poking other people's relationship is not her specialty.

Boris noticed the gaze from her. He smiled a bit. He looked very terrible and his eyes and nose were red. He took six tapes from the inside pocket of his coat and hand them over to Khomyuk.

Khomyuk took them incomprehensibly and realized that the tapes still carry the temperature of his heart. She saw the sadness and nostalgia on Boris's face.

"I received this. He recorded everything he wanted to say. They wanted him to shut up forever. I won't let this happen." His voice was hoarse, his nose was heavy, and he was trying to make himself stand straight.

"We won't let this happen." Khomyuk assured him, "Do you have a copy? I can take a copy." Khomyuk asked, she vaguely felt that she should not take away everything left by Valery from Boris. Valery belonged to them all.

Boris smiled. "Of course I have a lot of copies. I kept the original version." Then the rare smile disappeared. "Good luck, Ulana. I don't have many people to trust."

Khomyuk nodded in understanding. She comforted him: "I will spread them out one day, Boris. I can record the copys at home."

-

The first thing she got home, she found all the old tapes that she could utilize so that she could copy the last sound of Valery. She only has one recorder, so she can only do this one by one. She listened to Valery's voice over and over, and record it over and over again.

She listened and mourned, tears finally did not have to be held back, she let them down. Then she used the handkerchief to wipe them away. She forgot how long she had spent before she finally felt tired. She stopped and decided to continue tomorrow.

At noon, she ate with her friends. After the lunch, they discussed recent experiments, data, and co-authored papers. Then she began reading the newly published papers, designed the experiments and wrote a draft on a progress report.

She went to the video store again when she came home.

KGB withdrew the surveillance on her 1 year ago, because of her silence. She needs to take advantage of this.

After a week, she had 15 copies on hand.

She gave one of them to Dmitri who worked with her.

"You need to listen." Khomyuk said seriously.

Dmitri didn't hesitate, they worked together for a long time, long enough to understand each other.

The next day, Dmitri didn't return the tapes. He looked at her with understanding smile and gently asked if he was able to spread several copies of them: "I recorded a few copies and want to share it with friends who work at Ignalina, if you don't mind."

Khomyuk smiled. Of course, she didn't mind.

After 3 months, KGB finally came to the door.

Khomyuk got into the car. They shut her in a small room for a day, before KGB's Charkov came in. Khomyuk still remembers his face clearly.

 

Charkov put six tapes on the table. Khomyuk noticed that his white hair was a little sparse. Although Charkov was still calm, but his dissatisfaction creaked on his face, just as the bubbles are running towards the surface when the water is boiling.

"Comrade Khomyuk, please explain."

"Explain what."

"I think you know this very well, I just want to know where you got them."

“Is that important? I got it in an international academic conference. I wonder how someone else will give it to me.”

"No, it doesn't matter." Charkov shook his head indifferently. The eyes are cold. "Because you see, even if you all know, there is still no change. This is the way it is. Legasov is right, scientists are naive."

Khomyuk smiled. She knew the tricks of these people. None of them directly pushed Valery into the abyss, but this group, and people in it, the system behind them, the net, became a strong rope and then hang the Valery firmly.

Valery was a brave man, a very good person. It was her pleasure to work with him.

"You are right, we do know. And nothing happened." Khomyuk saw Charkov's satisfied eyes, and then continued, "Valery, I, we are all naive. As a scientist, you may not know, what we care about most is not our own research or honor. What we value most is the truth and the individual. You may think that we only care about numbers. But we care about numbers because we understand the meaning behind these numbers. The numbers mean life, symbolize the family, and the loved ones. No one cares more about the truth and the individual than we scientists do."

"Comrade Khomyuk, you are more naive than I thought." Charkov sighed.

"This is a system that is good at covering up the truth. We all have seen this. Some people choose to ignore these problems, and some people choose to cover them up. But some people will not."

Charkov's look shocked, and he probably never realized that she was so bold.

“Some people choose to continue to live the life they want and live long enough to see the system in the coffin, then to make sure someone nails it.”

"Then we will take your life away." Charkov said calmly, obviously this was not the first time he has done this.

"Of course you can. But don't forget, I am not the only one who realizes these problems, as you said: we do know. You have to take the lives of all of us."

Khomyuk was escorted to her home. They took her job, her research, and decided to repeat the way they treated Valery on her.

As it turns out, they didn't have time to succeed.

 

\--end--


End file.
